Roger, as Pascal pointed out there are a few official variations on some numbers. There are also many local variations on other numbers and you will always find someone to "laugh at you" whatever you say. For example ask many people on the street about number >1e8 and you're likely to get more than 1 unique answer. This is probably true >of other languages as well.
There is only a few things I added to Pascal's comments, below. --- Roger Hui <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I am contemplating adding a French section to > http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/Essays/Number_in_Words > I would appreciate it if members of Forum whose > mother tongue is French can verify or correct > the following description: > > The name in French of a non-negative integer > is formed on groups of 3 digits, starting from > the right. Each group is suffixed with the name > of the unit, and a group of three 0-digits > is omitted (unless all groups are all 0-digits, > in which case the name is "zéro"). > > French units (10^3*k) are the same as English > units with "mille" replacing "thousand", > "milliard" replacing "billion", and "décillion" > replacing "decillion". (Will I be laughed > at if I use "billion" instead of "milliard"?) > > There are a few idiomatic rules: > > a. 71 is "soixante et onze" but 72 is > "soixante-douze", 73 is "soixante-treis", etc. > (Will I be laughed at if I say "soixante-onze"?) 13= treize > b. 10,000 is "dix-millièmes" even though > 9,000 is "neuf mille" and 11,000 is "onze mille". > (Will I be laughed at if I say "dix mille"?) you will be laughed at if you say "dix-millièmes" > c. Numbers between 100 and 199 omit the > leading "un". Thus 175 is "cent soixante-quinze" > but 275 is "deux cents soixante-quinze". 'cent' only takes an 's' if preceded by >1 (cannot be 1 as you said) and NOT followed by anything so here it should be "deux cent soixante-quinze". 200 would be "deux cents". > d. Likewise, numbers between 1000 and 1999 omit > the leading "un". 'mille' never changes BTW even with >1 before > e. After "million", "milliard" ("billion"), or > "trillion", there is a "de" before the trailing > words. Thus, 1,004,224,000 is "un milliard de > quatre millions de deux cents vingt-quatre mille". I never heard anyone add the 'de' but then again not too many people I know use these numbers... Cheers /Dan ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows. Yahoo! Answers - Check it out. http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545469 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
